Green Build Gains Ground > Get A Buzz On!

Greenbuild International Conference and Expo
Greenbuild is the world's largest conference and expo dedicated to green building. The green building community gathers to share ideals and mutual passion at Greenbuild, sparking a contagious buzz throughout the week. 
. . . When industry leaders, experts and frontline professionals dedicated to sustainable building in their everyday work come together, the result is a unique and palpable energy. Participants are invigorated and inspired. They find themselves equipped to return to their jobs with a renewed sense of purpose.
Greenbuild features three groundbreaking days of inspiring speakers, invaluable networking opportunities, industry showcases, LEED workshops and tours of the host city's green buildings. Join thousands of other people who agree that green building is a good idea and good for business. 
More 4 >> http://www.greenbuildexpo.com/Attendee/ShowInfo

Centrica Hits The News Big Time

This just in four hours ago
Centrica signs global banking giant to 10 year deal

Posted November 17, 2015 by AZRE

In one of the largest Arizona real estate transactions of 2015, Centrica, an adaptive reuse project by Phoenix Rising Investments, LLC (PRI) signed a 10-year lease for their entire 117,000 square foot project. Banco Santander’s US Consumer group subsidiary, Santander Consumer USA Holdings, Inc, will move into Centrica in the New Year, netting Mesa’s Fiesta District almost 1,000 new jobs. Banco Santander is a retail and commercial global bank, with a presence in 10 main markets, 102 million customers, and approximately 14,700 branches—more than any other international bank—and 193,000 employees. Santander Consumer USA Holdings, Inc (NYSE: SC, “Santander Consumer USA”) is a publicly traded, full-service, technology-driven consumer finance company, specializing in auto finance and unsecured consumer lending products.

report from AZRE

Fast real estate deal: The City of Mesa made this announcement in June

 

Why? The area’s walkability, mass transit access, abundant freeway accessibility, redundant fiber network, and proximity to a workforce of more than 1.7 million people within a 20-minute drive, make it an ideal location for high-tech and multinational companies such as Santander,” said Michael Hsiung, Principal of Phoenix Rising Investments, LLC the developer and owner of Centrica.

 

How? PRI, along with Legacy Equity Partners, collaborated with an award winning team to develop the back office facility located in the heart of the Southeast Valley, with excellent transportation access, including seven bus stops within a quarter mile and two bus stops within 50 feet of the property.

Who? Willmeng Construction Inc. and Nelsen Partners designed the environmentally conscious state-of-the-art project with abundant parking and redundant fiber optic backbone connectivity.

More than a million people reside within a 10-mile radius of Centrica. With the addition of Centrica, and a $25.3 million investment by the City of Mesa into the Streetscape along Southern Avenue, adjacent to Centrica, The Fiesta District has become a target destination for major companies.

Creative Place Making > Re/Generating The New Urban DTMesa

Another "arts-inspired" initiative here in "downtown" - readers of this blog will note a change in that reference: nuttin' down about town with new works going UP all over the place and at least one new business opening the doors or soon-to-open the doors [see recent posts on this site] and another one expanding with a move to Main Street.
Here's Jesse Perry today during a quick-chat while he's in the middle of creating a new eye-popping neon-inspired visual on the west side of what-used-to-be in Mesa history the O.S. Stapley Store.
[See other posts on this site about Creative Place Making]





Finishing touches Wed 18 Nov

UPDATE:  A day later the work is done or with just one more "finishing touch" applied by Jesse standing on his tip-toes to do it. Another chance opportunity came up today when yours truly happened to walk east on Main Street from the Country Club/Main Light Rail, seeing a change from the day before and no artist . . . stopping to take a look. Seconds later Jesse drives into the alley; we talked again with him saying the mural was now done, then noticing one little line he gets right to making the change he wanted. Turns out he made a time-lapse video of the work-in-progress that will get uploaded to his website + social media.

Jesse Perry Art

www.jesseperryart.com

 

Getting' down signing the work and applying the copyright symbol

 

It Ain't Rockefeller Center > Wanna Call It "A Winter Wonderland"?? or Rinky Dink?

Got an email | Subject: RE: Holiday Plans . . . sending it along, but don't know about the words it's BACK & BIGGER THAN EVER EVENT! But . . .                                       

[. . . maybe the Festival of Lights across from Pioneer Park that usually attracts 500,000 to 1,000,000 but nobody knows for sure how many?]
Now that Valley Metro Light Rail is gliding down the middle of Main Street the whole New Urban DTMesa is making a wish

Winter Wonderland Ice Rink?
Winter Wonderland Ice Rink is located on the east side of Mesa City Plaza at 20 E. Main Street
Open Nov. 27 – Jan. 3
Monday – Friday 5 – 10 p.m.
Saturday – Sunday 10 a.m. – 10 p.m.
Rink holds 125 people at one time.
Price: $10 for one hour (includes skate rental)
No discount for personal skates
Keep an eye-out for affiliated tie-in when you shop on Main Street: Another benefit to shopping downtown this season – any purchase at a participating business grants customers a $2 off coupon for the new ice skating rink at City Plaza!

The rented rink is getting some strands of overhead lights and the sides getting hung with green garlands.
In the image to the left you can get a fix on the human scale of things installed on the parking lot next to City Hall.
If you sit in the upper levels of the bleachers you might be able to watch the skating or stand long the sides like these people inspecting the rink installation on Thursday
Imagine if you can 125 people all at the same time - of all skating skills - going round-and-round synchronized at the same speed skating along inside the rink . . . ya better watch out and ya better not pout if ya fall down or have wobbly ankles or lose your balance.

At full capacity [125 people per hour] each weekday will have 625 people, or $6,250 income.
For weekends, at full capacity, 2500 people for both days, or $25,000 income

Ooops! Modern Times @ The World-Famous Nile Theater



 “It’s a blast dude. I’ve met so many cool people. This is a great venue, it’s downtown Mesa. What else could you ask for?” 

- Those words are from a November 13 article by Ryan Scott that appeared in Modern Times Magazine about the Whisker Bent & HellBound 3 Competition November 7th.

 

Good News + Bad News > Call The House! Toll-Free

Whether you ride or not, public transportation benefits all of us. It reduces pollution, eases traffic congestion, and helps our communities thrive. In cities, suburbs, and rural America, public transit provides vital connections to jobs, education, medical care, and our larger communities. Help us keep America moving. - See more at: http://voicesforpublictransit.org/#sthash.TQ7ghjY2.dpuf

The good news is, both the Senate and the House have passed multi-year, comprehensive transportation bills.

The bad news is, the House legislation doesn’t significantly increase funding for public transit beyond current levels.

Please call the Voices for Public Transit Legislative Hotline now at (888) 443-5862 to urge Senators McCain and Flake and Representative Sinema to increase America’s investment in public transportation.

The call is free and will only require a few minutes of your time.

We have one last opportunity to make sure the final legislation Congress sends to President Obama funds public transit at the highest levels possible. We have to make it clear to Congress that America wants increased long-term funding for public transit.

Here’s all you have to do:

• Call (888) 443-5862 and listen to our brief instructions
• You’ll be connected to your U.S. Representative’s office first
• Stay on the line and you’ll be connected to your Senators’ offices as well.

Congress will likely be voting on the final legislation in the next week or so. Calls from voters now will ensure they pass a long-term transportation bill that enables our nation to expand and improve public transit.

Let’s make the phones ring off the hook on Capitol Hill.

Call the Voices for Public Transit Legislative Hotline at (888) 443-5862 today!

Transit-Oriented Development TOD > New Urban DT Mesa

The largely Susan Tibschraeny-owned stretch of Main Street on the north side west of Robson near the Country Club/MainStreet Valley Metro Light Rail Station and adjacent to Courtyard Towers [that recently sold for $21 million dollars] will be the chosen site for a new food enterprise revamping what used to be Urban Picnic @ 216 that closed in June of this year [see post on this blog June 13].
After just signing a lease, the new business owners with management background at Postino's, were found on-site inside the location yesterday making preliminary plans to re-configure and re-equip the space to bring it up to code for the anticipated opening.
We talked for a brief time about the menu offerings and DT Mesa. Readers will eagerly wait to see how things develop here - more details will be forthcoming as progress moves ahead on this transit-oriented development that downtown residents, office/retail and city employees, plus other business owners look forward to on Main Street.

Just  a couple of doors away @ 202 W Main The Old Brick House usually open occasionally in the back garage of the Drew Building had this notice posted on the door: